Work on New Waterford hub continuing
Tender includes artificial turf soccer field, tennis courts, washrooms
NEW WATERFORD — The construction tender to rebuild two sports fields and recreation facilities in New Waterford will be issued soon, according to officials.
Deborah Bayer, communications adviser with Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, said the request for proposals for design services for the New Waterford community hub, which will include a new school, longterm care home and community health complex, is expected to be awarded in the coming weeks.
“We are close to issuing the construction tender to rebuild two sports fields and recreation facilities in New Waterford, part of the community hub,” Bayer said in a statement.
The tender includes an artificial turf soccer field, tennis courts, washrooms and storage buildings at nearby MacKinnon Field to make way for the construction of the new community hub at the Breton Education Centre site.
The Cape Breton Regional Municipalty health-care redevelopment was announced in June 2018. It is intended to modernize health care facilities, and will also include the loss of emergency departments in New Waterford and North Sydney.
While it was not initially considered part of the redevelopment, the Nova Scotia Health Authority recently noted that the construction of a six-station satellite renal dialysis unit to Glace Bay Hospital is expected to be complete by late summer or early fall.
The multi-year redevelopment is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Also as part of the redevelopment, Dr. Elwood MacMullin was recently named new senior medical director of the project. Originally from Glace Bay, MacMullin practised general surgery for nearly 30 years at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney. He has held multiple leadership roles in the region, including chief of surgery, president of the medical staff and chair of the medical advisory committee. He replaced Dr. Kevin Orrell, who has been appointed deputy minister of the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness.
Other components of the redevelopment are also moving ahead. Construction of the Cape Breton Regional Hospital’s replacement parking lotwill start in May. It will make room for construction of the new emergency department, cancer centre and critical care department at the back of the hospital.
The design contract for the laundry facility, community health complex and longterm care home in North Sydney has been awarded to Architecture 49. Construction there is expected to begin later this year.
The province announced last year that it will cost $4.5 million to relocate New Waterford sports fields to make way for the planned healthcare redevelopment that will include a new Breton Education Centre, health centre and long-term care home. In doing so, it noted that the community’s artificial turf soccer field, tennis courts and three outbuildings — washrooms and storage — will be moved to MacKinnon Field to make way for the construction of the new complex. The grass soccer field at MacKinnon Field will be moved to nearby Colliery Lands Park, adjacent to Heelan Street.
Breton Education Centre was built in 1971. The current artificial turf field is 16 years old.